Undeceived

First foremost, before the music, let's mention the obvious and first factor with this band that so many like to debate and argue over. This band is a Christian band. It's sad that a band's personal beliefs can cause so much hysteria and trash-talk, rather than what the band offers to the music community. However, I will say that this band does a good job at walking the thin line of effectively representing their religious beliefs without being overly "preachy" (i.e. "Praise Jesus" this; "Praise Jesus" that; "Lets all love eachother"). Their lyrical substance is mostly comprised of the darker sides of life like depression, death, and struggle.

Now, with that out of the way, let's discuss the music:

This album is put together with some of the best production quality I have ever heard. The guitars, bass, drums, and vocals all have their presence and sound clean and effective without sounding over produced. You can clearly hear each distinct instrument and what they are offering to the overall mix, with each member of this band is extremely talented at their own instrument.

The album overall is a huge mix of different genres of metal. It is definitely and without objection, extreme metal, but classifying it is more hazy. I personally say that it is melodic death metal heavily fused with progressive metal and continual time changes. The vocals are fierce shrieks and low growls, while the guitars seamlessly flow through classical overtures, to thrash, to even jazzy sounding riffs. There is also a distinct element of black metal throughout the album, brought by string sections, heavily minor guitar progressions, and an overall depressing atmosphere.

Overall I give this album a 90% because it is a well executed album, with many memorable riffs and several fantastic songs. The only reason why I can't give this album the full 100% is the fact that some of the songs become monotonous and somewhat boring. They cover so much ground on the good songs that they do not leave much territory to explore on the "okay" songs. What you have is an album mostly filled with gems and a couple of track fillers. An overall must have!